“Weak” characterizes Vladimir Putin’s response to the Wagner mutinyin an exclusive interview with CNN, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky and adds that the Russian President he loses control of his own people.

“We see Putin’s reaction. She was weak”, Zelensky told CNN in Odessa, in an interview taped Sunday. “First, we see that he does not control everything. Wagner’s move deep into Russia and capturing some areas shows how easy it is to do. Putin does not control the situation in the regions. All that power he used to have is collapsing.”

Some Russians cheered Wagner’s fighters as his mutiny progressed. The video, which was located and geo-verified by CNN, showed cheering crowds as the Wagner chief’s vehicle left the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 24.

In the same interview, as reported by CNN, Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence reports indicated that the Kremlin was monitoring and measuring support for Prigozhin and claimed that half of Russia supported Wagner’s leader and the rebellion.

As CNN reports, the Ukrainian president’s interview comes at a critical time – not only after Prigozhin’s failed uprising, but also weeks after the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the slow progress it is making in recapturing Russian-held territory.

This effort is closely watched by Western allies and on Saturday a US official told CNN that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief Bill Burns recently visited Kiev and met with Zelensky and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Zelensky told CNN he was “surprised” to see his meeting with Burns to be reported to the media. “My communication with the head of the CIA should always be behind the scenes,” he said. “We are discussing important things – what Ukraine needs and how Ukraine is ready to act.”

Burns, a veteran diplomat, has become a trusted interlocutor in Kiev and has made several trips to Ukraine during the war. “We don’t have any secrets from the CIA, because we have good relations and our intelligence services talk to each other,” Zelensky said. Burns traveled to Kiev before Prigozhin’s uprising, which was not discussed, the US official told CNN.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv on Saturday, Zelensky said that the Wagner mutiny “heavily affected Russian strength on the battlefield”a development that could be beneficial for Ukraine’s counterattack.
And while Kiev’s efforts have focused on recapturing territory in southern and eastern Ukraine, Zelensky says in the interview that his ultimate goal is to liberate Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 in violation of international law.

“We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea. And while Crimea is under Russian occupation, it only means one thing: the war is not over yet,” he said. Asked if there was any scenario in which there could be peace without Crimea, Zelensky said: “It won’t be a victory then.”